Staffer's Note

If you’ve been to Dublin, you’ve likely heard of an area downtown called Temple Bar. In the tour books, it’s mostly characterized as the one-stop shot to fulfill your romanticized notions of drinking in Ireland: getting wistful over a pint of Guinness with an old, newsboy-capped bloke who could be named, vaguely, O’Donoghue or O’Flagerty. Maybe you’ll meet him in the Literary Pub Crawl while brushing shoulders with second- and third-generation Irish-American tourists attempting to commune with Joyce and Wilde. The shoulders you brush might be covered in garish windbreakers, but you’re there, and you’re engaging with some notion of Irish culture, and that’s what matters, right?

Or maybe you want something a little less tame, a little more Look at Me, I’m in Europe, and I’m Under 25 (or something I like to call I Brought My Crop-Top and I’m Damn Well Gonna Use It). Dance away your burgeoning alcoholic tendencies in clubs with names like Alchemy (aspirational?), Purdy Kitchen (food served during daylight hours) and Fitzsimons (cla$$ier; there’s a rooftop bar). A few times this summer, while in Dublin through DukeEngage, I found myself in these settings, wading amongst the nebulae of fake tans, high-waisted tube skirts and general skeezery in the form of passé gelled hair and Abercrombie shirts.

It is with slight disbelief that I consider how successfully a different scene exists literally alongside these night-prowler jaunts. In the past two decades, Temple Bar has undergone a radical shift in arts offerings, establishing mainstays such as the Irish Film Institute, Project Arts Centre and Temple Bar Gallery and Studios. Ireland’s signature mix of old and new architecture accommodates these institutions, which roll out top-notch and often experimental arts programming every night. Here, the Irish Modern Dance Theatre premieres a new piece at the same time as ten gallery openings; numerous and highly diverse theatREs remind patrons that Irish wit is as powerful and quintessential and relevant as ever. The origin of this massive upswing in the arts is also intriguing: As the Temple Bar Cultural Trust claims, “The Irish Government gave us the job of regenerating Temple Bar.”

This past weekend, I returned to Dublin for a DukeEngage follow-up conference. Again I was amazed by the coexistence of Temple Bar bacchanalia and innovative arts offerings. As the masses stumbled out of bars, though, those heading to the French Film Festival next door seemed more like snappily dressed upper-crusters. Rather than allying myself with one subculture over the other, I felt their disparity, especially in the context of Ireland’s current financial crisis. It’s unsurprising that recessions keep bars in business; the arts in turn become more inaccessible for the common folk. In Ireland, where cultural traditions intertwine humor, language and the arts as much as alcohol and celebration, these circumstances are particularly complex. While the economy stays at rock-bottom, it’s difficult to predict whether the relationship between arts patronage and bar-hopping in Temple Bar will remain dichotomous or more conscientiously integrate, creating a new way for everyone to engage in culture in Dublin. At present, though, know that you have two options– if you’re ever there, or in a similar place stateside, enjoy yourself, but challenge these sometimes prescriptive spaces in order to partake in and observe culture through a keen(er) economic and socio-cultural lens.